Bartholomew Consolidated School students are making some historically good choices when it comes to drug use.

But there are concerns that after leaving the school system, young people in our community are choosing to imbibe.

Larry Perkinson, employee and student assistance coordinator for the school district, said that the recently released results from the Indiana Youth Data survey shows extremely low rates of drug usage, down in several categories to near-record lows since 1993.

Students were asked what substances they have used in the last month.

Tobacco use is at the record low for high school seniors and alcohol is at a near low. One drug that did edge higher recently was marijuana use, which is up from 13.2 percent in 2015 to 15.6 percent this year. Perkinson attributed that to the legalization efforts for both medical and recreational marijuana use around the country, which could be giving students a positive view of the drug.

The use of harder drugs was in the fractions of percentage points, Perkinson said.

Perkinson said he is concerned about the disconnect between student attitudes and the 18 to 25 year olds in the community. The number of overdoses of young adults in that age group has quadrupled in recent years.

He said that there may be more opportunities for the schools to prepare students for the dangers of after-school life.

Graphics below courtesy of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.